20.0: Introduction to the Child Abuse Registry (CAR)

purpose

The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services is committed to ensuring that child welfare policies are updated to support new laws and practice. Therefore, in conjunction with input from various policy workgroups, anew policy was developed to meet the requirements of Senate Bill 138, which was signed into law by Governor Nathan Deal in May 2015 and incorporated into the Official Code of Georgia (O.C.G.A.), Sections 49-5-180 through 49-5-187. This new law requires DFCS to develop and maintain the Child Protective Services Information System, also known as the Child Abuse Registry (CAR) to document the names of individuals who have been substantiated as an alleged child abuser. Chapter 20-Child Protective Services Information System was created to meet the requirements of this law, and goes into effect in July 2016. Please review the attached policy sections and provide feedback via the survey monkey link provided below:

20.0: Introduction to the Child Abuse Registry (CAR)

20.1: Child Abuse Registry Inclusion and Notification to Alleged Child Abuser

20.2: OSAH Administrative Review of Substantiated Maltreatment Findings

20.3Judicial Review of OSAH Overturned or Upheld Substantiated Maltreatment

20.4Access to Child Abuse Registry Information

What to expect:

1. Overview of the function and information contained in the CAR.
2. Outline of the demographic information that must be transmitted from DFCS to the CAR for substantiated cases.
3. The notification process to the person identified as the substantiated maltreater of his or her namebeing included in the CAR and of his or her right to appeal the substantiation decision.
4. The process of forwarding a request for an administrative review to the Office of Administrative Review Hearings (OSAH), and documenting OSAH’s decision upholding or overturning a substantiation decision, and when applicable removing the individual’s name from the CAR.
5. The process for notifying the DFCS County Department of OSAH’s Administrative Review findings.
6. When a Superior Court or Judicial Review is requested subsequent to the OSAH Administrative Review, the process for documenting the results of the decision in the CAR and notifying the County Department of the court’s decision.
7. A description of who may have access to information included in the CAR and the specific information he or she is entitled to based on his or her identified relationship and purpose.

NOTE:Policy related to expungement of a minor alleged child abuser’s name from the CAR is currently under development and will be released at a later date.

Internal Stakeholder Review

Field Operations Directors/State Office SectionDirectors:

1. Designate a minimum of 2 staff from each region/county/section to review the policy draft and provide feedback.
2. Designate varying levels of staff to conduct the review (i.e. Case Managers, Supervisors, Administrators, Field Program Specialists, Project Administrators, Managers, Directors, etc.)
3. Select staff based on thearea of practice or expertise to conduct the review.
4. If for some reason a selected staff is not able to complete the review, they should be encouraged to contact their manager to ensure an appropriate alternate may be selected.

External Stakeholder Review

Your review of the attached policies is an important part of ensuring that agencies and individuals impacted by the work of DFCS have the opportunity to provide input that shapes child welfare policy and practice for the benefit of children and families served.

Individuals: Please follow review information outlined below.

Organizations: Designate a minimum of 2 reviewers within your organization to review the policies. If additional reviewers are selected, notify the so that a record of agencies/individuals included in the review process is maintained.

IMPORTANT REVIEW INFORMATION

Please review the attached policy drafts carefully and provide feedback by 5pm Monday,May 30, 2016via the survey monkey link:

Each policy draft is organized by Codes/References, Requirements, Procedures, Practice Guidance, and if applicable, and Forms/Tools.

Codes/References are applicable federal and/or state laws.

Requirements (policy statements) are actions/directives set forth based on federal and state law, regulations, and/or practice.Note that requirements set forth by federal law included in this section are stated exactly or as close as possible to the language in the law and cannot be modified. Such requirements are italicized for easy reference.

Procedures are a series of steps to accomplish the directives set forth in the requirements.
Practice Guidance is designed to provide staff with thoughtful and practicalguidance on how to effectively integrate sound social work practice into their workto achieve positive family and child outcomes. It may also provide additional information, definitions, clarifications, etc.

WEB-BASED INPUT TOOL INSTRUCTIONS

You will be asked via an online survey for each policy draft to provide feedback on the draft policies based on your professional experience and your area of expertise. Your review should also identify whether thepolicy is clear and consistent with applicable laws and best case practice.

1. Read and assess each policy draft. All drafts are in PDF format; you must have Adobe PDF Reader installed on your computer to be able to open and view these documents.
2. Once you have read and analyzed each draft document, click on the Survey Monkey link, give feedback. This link will take you to a survey specifically for apolicy review on the Survey Monkey website. If you have difficulty accessing the survey site through the link itself,copy and paste the Survey Monkey URL address into the address line of your internet browser. You will need to login after each time you visit Survey Monkey.
3. Answer all questions on the survey before clicking on “Submit Responses.” Once you have done this you may be redirected to the Survey Monkey home page.
4. You must submit a survey for each policy draft.

TECHNICAL SUPPORT

If you have Pop-up Blocker enabled on your computer it may prevent the survey window from opening properly. If you click on the “Give Feedback” link and nothing happens, you may want to click on “Temporarily Allow Pop-Ups” on your Internet Explorer top navigation toolbar.

If you are still having technical difficulties, please contact the Child Welfare Policy and Regulations Unit at .

Thank you for your time and feedback.

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